LAWRENCE — Representatives of the township’s police and public works departments brought their 2014 budget requests before the township council last night, including $125,000 for the police department’s in-car video reporting system and $450,000 for a new salt storage facility for public works.

Interim police Chief Mark Ubry, appointed after Daniel Posluszny retired as chief at the end of last year, said the department was requesting four major projects, including the most expensive and “most important” video system for 10 of 19 of the department police cars.

“The video system would benefit the township in more ways than one. We get allegations of officers taking actions that they haven’t,” township attorney David Roskos said.

“It would stop frivolous reports right in their tracks. The video speaks for itself.”

The current system is 8 years old and uses outdated technology, Ubry said.

The department’s current 911 system also is outdated, Ubry said.

The communication system should be updated every three to five years, but the current system is 11 years old, he said.

He requested $50,000 to complete that project.

The two additional requests for the police department included $33,000 for improvements to the police and court building on Lawrence Road, such as door locks and computer software that are in need of upgrades, and $15,500 for a “cloud” system that would store and back up police data in real time.

The current system is manual, Ubry said.

Public Works Director Greg Whitehead noted that his department had a challenging task of plowing and salting the 200 lane-miles of roadway throughout the township this season because of the steady stream of snowstorms.

“We had about 21 winter storms or incidents and we used 3,000 tons of salt,” Whitehead said.

“As with the state and other municipalities, we had difficulty in obtaining road salt. The deliveries were slow, especially when the region had many winter events back to back.”

Building a new salt storage facility has been in talks for years, Whitehead and Municipal Manager Rich Krawczun said, and Whitehead’s request isn’t a “knee-jerk reaction” to this winter’s snow totals, Krawczun said.

The proposed storage facility would double the current capacity for salt so the public works department wouldn’t have to scrape together and ration out its salt supply if deliveries are sparse, Whitehead said.

“This is something we could use for the next 30 winters and something that needs serious consideration,” he said.

The $450,000 would cover the cost of electrical and ground work and also the removal of the current 22-year-old facility.

Councilman Stephen Brame questioned whether there was any “scrap value potential” from the current facility, but Whitehead said it isn’t plausible because its concrete walls are “starting to go bad.”

“It would be built on the same footprint as the old facility. I’m looking for it for next winter, if funded, and built this summer,” Whitehead said.

“I’m sure some salt carriers will be smarter in terms of planning for this region after this winter.”

Whitehead also proposed the purchase of a portable light tower for emergency employees working at night, a piece of equipment the township does not currently have, he said. It could be shared with the township’s police and fire departments, he said. He did not include the price for the light purchase.

“We borrowed from the county in the past, but in emergency situations, it’s hard to share,” Whitehead said. “Operating a chainsaw with the light of headlights is very dangerous.”